There exists an ever growing need in the aviation industry to increase aircraft efficiencies and reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed. Winglets have been designed and installed on many aircraft including large multi-passenger aircraft to increase efficiency, performance, and aesthetics. Such winglets usually consist of a horizontal body portion that may attach to the end of a wing and an angled portion that may extend vertically upward from the horizontal body portion. For example, a winglet may be attached to a pre-existing wing of an aircraft to increase flight efficiency, aircraft performance, or even to improve the aesthetics of the aircraft.
However, winglets must be designed for certain flight conditions and may represent tradeoffs between performance and weight penalties. For example, this additional structure that may be required to handle the loads of the higher performance configuration may add to the overall weight of the aircraft and detracts from any efficiencies gained by addition of the winglet in the first place. Additionally, the winglets and resulting lift distribution across the wing may be optimized for only one flight condition, for example a nominal cruise condition. Optimization for one flight condition may detract from, or even eliminate, efficiencies that may be otherwise gained while the aircraft is in any other flight condition. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for improved aircraft winglets and wingtip devices.